Green Bathroom

I stole this off of Lush's website but chances are not many people read about this on the website so I am going to post it here:

1 Think About What You Really Need Learn about cosmetics ingredients and their effects. Read product labels. Avoid ingredients that are not beneficial to you or that are harmful to the environment. Ask for samples so you can try a product for a few days to help you make the right choices. The single most eco-friendly thing you can do is avoid collecting half-used bottles of products that weren't right for your needs.

2 Use Solid, Unpackaged Products Choose bar soap instead of shower gel or liquid soap. Use shampoo bars instead of bottled shampoo and solid massage bars instead of massage oil. These are all better for the environment as there is little or no packaging. Solid products also contain no water and therefore need no environmentally-damaging preservatives.

3. Check for A Use-By Date No use-by date usually means that the product is heavily preserved. (Read the ingredient label and you'll see...) More preservatives down the drain are bad for the environment.

4 Avoid Disposables Look for personal hygiene products with extended life spans such as toothbrushes and razors with disposable heads. If you only replace the head you are throwing less away.

5 Explore Water Recycling Systems When you have a bath, make the most of it! Take at least 45 minutes out of your schedule to relax and unwind. Even better, share your bath with your partner. When you're finished, try recycling your bath water. You can use it to water your house plants, garden or lawn. Your begonias will thank you.

6 Don't Leave the Tap On When you shave, brush your teeth, or even shower, only turn on the water when absolutely necessary: at the beginning and the end. While you're soaping yourself or when brushing, stop gallons of water rushing down the drain needlessly by turning off the tap.

7 Recycle Your Plastics Most of us are already in the habit of recycling containers like water bottles and milk jugs but we don't always remember that most of our bathroom containers can be recycled too. Just be sure to wash them first. If you don't, they can contaminate the rest of your recycling and end up in a landfill. Plus, for every 5 black LUSh pots you return to you local shop you can pick up a free Fresh face mask!

8 Shop With A Lower Carbon Footprint Whenever you shop for cosmetic products, take your own reusable bag. Buy local products when possible (look at the label, was it made locally or air freighted in from afar?) and avoid buying products with excessive packaging (remember that sometimes the contents cost less than the packaging). Reduce your carbon footprint even more by walking or cycling to the shops. At the very least, take public transportation or carpool.

9 Save Water from going down the Loo Leave a water bottle filled with sand in the back of your toilet tank. This displaces the water so it takes less every time you flush. And remember; if it's yellow, let it mellow. Every flush uses gallons of water, so if you flush every other pee, you'll be saving thousands of gallons of water per year.

10 Use Green cleaning products Using conventional cleaning products in the bathroom exposes you and the environment to hundreds of harmful chemicals. By choosing 'Green' cleaning products, your bathroom comes just as clean, but you won't be inhaling toxins or contributing to environmental problems. When LUSH first started in the U.K, it was one of the few companies to list their ingredients on labels. Though there was no law saying it had to, LUSH was just incredibly proud of their formulations! Now in the U.K, and in North America it is mandatory to quantitatively list ingredients on cosmetics, and we are still very proud to do so.

Toodles,

-Joanne